


Jigsaw puzzles

by Miss_Kitten



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mild Angst, Romance, tragic backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 05:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10353195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Kitten/pseuds/Miss_Kitten
Summary: Reader finds Bucky in her flat one day. He asks her to let him stay and she agrees. The two of them help each other from that day on.





	

It’s been a good day. You managed to buy some food, so you won’t starve, thanks to a gentleman on the market who was careless enough to put his wallet in his grocery bag. Easy for you to snatch, take some money out and hand it back, pretending that it was laying on the ground.

Men, with all their masculinity and belief that they are undefeatable, always so sure about their strength and cleverness and at the same time – the easiest targets on the market. Funny.

Rummaging through your bag, you fish out the keys to your flat. Finally, with the money you took today, you will be able to pay a rent for following month. You have already begun to think that you will end up under a bridge.

A good day, indeed.

You reach your front door and put the key in the locker, turning it to open the door.

Weird. You’re sure you locked it when you went out, you always double check.

Your heart starts beating fast, panic making you sweat. Someone broke in? To your poor flat where you have nothing valuable? You don’t even own a computer or TV, what the hell anyone would steal?

From the pocket of your jacket you take out a switchblade. Poor weapon, but still better than your bare hands.

Before you open the door, you lean closer to it, trying to listen to whatever sound that mysterious burglar is making.

There is none. Only silence.

Taking a deep breath to steady yourself, you grip the blade tighter and quietly step in, your sense heightening as the adrenaline pumps through your veins.

Upon hearing you entering, a tall, broad man stiffens against the chest of drawers on the right side. His jaw clenches as he slowly turns his eyes at you.

“Get the fuck out,” you draw out through gritted teeth, hoping that he will understand. Even if you’ve lived in Bucharest for quite a while, you never bothered to learn the language. There was no use in knowing it, you barely speak aloud anyway.

“You live here?” he asks, his voice soft, with no hint of threat. You shoot him a confused look.

“No, I just broke in to see if any other burglar is in. Of course, I live here, you dumbass. Now, will you be kind enough to leave or should I call the cops?”

“Don’t. I just… I lived here before-“

“I don’t care. Fuck off,” you say coldly, swinging the door open and moving aside to create a straight passage for him. He doesn’t move, only stares at you with piercing blue eyes.

“I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

“Dude, really, get out. I’m not looking for trouble and you look like someone who’s in deep shit.”

“Y-you don’t recognize me?” he asks, evidently surprised and you take a moment to study his features, taking in his scruffy cheeks, longish brown hair, muscled body, clad in at least three layers of clothes. You notice that his left arm seems different, as if deflated, and only then it occurs to you that it’s because he doesn’t have one.

“Doesn’t ring a bell, no,” you shake your head and then tilt it to the side, ushering him to exit. You start to feel annoyed. There’s a stranger in your flat, who’s apparently in some nostalgic mood, not eager to leave you alone.

Good day quickly turns to a bad one just like that.

“Anyway, nice to meet you, previous inhabitant of his glorious apartment, but you should leave.”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” he states, gazing into your eyes with a plea and you sigh, irritated to no end.

“Not my problem.”

“Please…”

“Oh, come on!” you exclaim. “You break in to _my_ flat, ask me if I live here as if it’s something unbelievable, and now you ask me to let you stay here with that stupid puppy look on your face! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I, uhm…” he starts, lowering his eyes onto the floor, “I’ve done some bad things. I’m not proud of it, and when I lived here it didn’t haunt me. I felt good here. I guess I just wanted to come back here to make myself feel better and, I don’t know, forget about what happened.”

You watch him silently, noticing that he appears to be ashamed and unsure, looking lost and in a need of help. With a heavy sigh, you close the door and put the switchblade in your pocket.

“You can stay. But not for too long, I don’t have enough money to buy food for two.”

“I have money. I’ll pay,” he adds, a small smile curling up his lips. You wave your hand dismissively as you move pass him, putting the groceries on kitchentop.

“What’s your name?” you inquire, realizing that if you’re going to live together, you should at least get to know him better.

“Bucky.”

“Bucky Barnes?” you look at him over your shoulder and he nods, furrowing his brows.

“You know me after all?”

“There was a newspaper left here, when I moved in. With an article about the Winter Soldier. I didn’t understand much but I picked out the name.”

“You’re not scared of me?” Bucky asks and you shake your head.

“I know I should, but I’m not. Now, Bucky, sit down. It makes me uncomfortable when you stand still like a monument.”

_____

After you cooked dinner and you and Bucky ate, mostly in silence, it was already getting dark, which led you to a realization.

You have only one mattress. You couldn’t afford to buy a real bed. But still, it surely isn’t enough for two people to sleep, without touching one another.

“That’ll be awkward,” you muse, looking at your ‘bed’ and Bucky comes to your side.

“I don’t feel sleepy, I can stay up.”

“And what will you do? Watch me sleep? That’s creepy,” you jest, letting out a small chuckle and Bucky snorts.

“I’ll go for a walk. Or read. Can I borrow your books, Y/N?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Want me to wake you up in the morning?”

“No, no need to,” you say, quickly going to bathroom before Bucky can ask any more questions. You don’t feel like sharing details of your live with him.

Not when you have just met him.

_____

A week passes and you and Bucky get along pretty well. Despite his missing limb, he’s capable of doing pretty much everything, only slower. You were surprised when one afternoon, after coming back from your ‘job’, you walked on him cooking.

That’s when you realized that Bucky’s rather unexpected appearing in your flat was the best thing that happened to you from very long time.

“So, you have a job?”

“No, I don’t,” you answer, already feeling anxious. Bucky’s not the one to prod, but this topic was due to come up sooner or later.

Bucky frowns, apparently wondering where do you get money from. You have a routine – you go out around noon, heading to a place far from your flat and then search for someone to steal from. You’re not proud of what you’re doing but you don’t see any other option.

“Then how-“

“I steal, okay?” you spit, covering your eyes with your hands to not see Bucky’s kind ones.

The two of you are sitting by the table, across from one another. You have just finished supper.

“Y/N…” Bucky starts gently, reaching with his hand to squeeze your forearm. “You don’t need to be ashamed. I’m not judging you.”

“I came here to not end up as a hooker,” you say after you swallow hardly, deciding that since you know about Bucky’s past, he should learn about yours. You lay your folded hands on your lap, too embarrassed to look straight at him.

“My parents died few years ago, in a car accident. They had insurance but all the money were taken to pay dad’s debts. I was left with nothing. I had savings, but I was still at university, which I eventually left cause I couldn’t afford it any longer. I worked as a waitress in a diner and then as a charwoman in a hotel but still, I didn’t make enough money. So, when a saw a chance…”

“One of the guests left his wallet in the room. I took a twenty but he still noticed. He had a fight with the owner and then, my boss came to me and said that he had to kick me out. I asked him not to, and he told me that his friend was looking for girls to his establishment. I didn’t realize what it kind of place it was, until my boss said that if I’d be nice to him that night, he would recommend me and I’d make way more money than he paid me. I told him to suck a cock, and ran away that night.”

There are tears in your eyes and you wipe at your cheeks, feeling angry at yourself for crying. Many people have worse life that you do, but Bucky is the first person you told about what happened to you and only now you realize that it all just wasn’t fair. You were supposed to graduate and start your own company. You had dreams and hopes and they all were crashed in the day your parents died. Your relatives turned their back on you when you asked them for help, promising you would return every cent they’d borrow you.

Out of sudden, Bucky stand up and walks to you, wrapping his arm around you to pull you into a hug. You try to push him away, not wanting his pity, but he’s stubborn – he holds you tight, rubbing your back and you give up.

You cling onto him, gripping his shirt in your fists as you cry out your sorrow and loneliness. Bucky whispers a promise of help, something you never realized you wanted to hear, and it makes you feel a bit better.

He doesn’t say a word when you ask him to sleep with you tonight. You fall asleep with your back pressed against Bucky’s chest and his bent arm as your pillow.

_____

As he promised, Bucky started to take care of you. He insisted that you should learn the language and one day, he sat you by the table and pronounced him your teacher. You had to admit – he was good. Patient and understanding, he explained grammar and those weird letters you couldn’t get. He taught you how to build sentences, questions and answers; everything you might ever need.

He also found few job advertisements, that were fit for you.

And today, you have a job interview. You feel as if you’re going to fall apart from how nervous you are, but Bucky offers you a reassuring smile as you get ready.

“You’ll do great, doll. You’re perfect for that job.”

“You think I’ll make a good secretary?” you say as you slide a jacket on, trying hard for your voice to not shake.

“Of course you will,” he states matter-of-factly and you flash him a smile.

“I’ll keep my finger crossed. Now, get out, you don’t want to be late.”

_____

Two hours later, you’re walking back into your flat, forcing your face to not show any kind of emotion. You don’t Bucky to notice how it went too fast.

When you enter the place, he jumps on his feet, impatient. He fixes his eyes on you, awaiting your answer.

“And..?” he urges as you say nothing, kicking off your shoes.

“I got it!” you cheer, hopping in a place and Bucky shouts a ‘yes’ throwing his fist into the air. The two of you cheer some more, laughing gleefully and Bucky scoops you in an embrace. You wrap your arms around his neck, holding him close.

“Thank you! I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t for you, Buck.”

“Sure, doll. I’m happy I helped.”

“Oh, you have no idea, how much you did,” you mumble, facing him as your hands travel to rest on his shoulder.

He smiled widely, his eyes filling with happiness and, before you can think twice, you brush your lips with his in a tender kiss. Bucky freezes but after a second, his lips are on yours, soft and warm, and you kiss him back.

You didn’t notice when it happened, but you fell for him – somewhere in between trying to figure out how to deal with a deadly assassin in your flat and long conversations when neither of you could sleep, Bucky crawled into your heart and took a residence there and you realized you didn’t mind.

When the two of you part, your lips still tingling from his kiss, Bucky rubs his nose affectionately against yours, prompting you to giggle.

“I take it I can stay for a bit longer,” he whispers, looking at you with hopefulness and you grin, moving one of your hands to cradle his cheek.

“You can. For as long as you like.”

He nuzzles into your palm and lean in to peck his lips.

It seems that you give each other something both of you needed the most.

A hope for a better tomorrow.  


End file.
